In order to ensure more resilient, sustainable, and inclusive public service delivery, humanitarian actors can embrace new roles by undertaking the following approaches:
Strengthen Organizational Capacity of Service Providers
Organizational capacity strengthening helps organizations (achieve their objectives (like sufficiently meeting demand for services) by strategically expanding its capacity in the following areas:
1. Planning
Adequate planning and preparation for crisis management can significantly enhance the ability of service providers to respond to heightened need. Humanitarian actors, spurred by a potential displacement crisis, can help at-risk urban communities to identify public service contingency plans. Additionally, keeping lines of communication open between humanitarian actors and public service providers can help to inform host communities of impending refugee arrivals and ensure that local institutions and host populations have a greater say in humanitarian interventions.
2. Financial Management
The absence of proper financial management and sustainable revenue streams increases the likelihood of overspending, embezzlement, and corruption. Before crises
occur or during protracted crises, humanitarian actors can support the development of sound financial practices that are both compliant with international standards and relevant to the context. This would ensure that providers are more readily able to budget, fundraise, manage, and disburse funds before and during crises.
3. Funding for Crisis Response
Local public service providers often struggle financially to sufficiently provide services pre-crisis; their scarce resources are therefore insufficient to match amplified demand. In times of crisis, international humanitarian donor funding typically goes to international rather than local actors. The short-term avenues for expanding financial resources are limited, but the Lebanese case study demonstrates that pooling of resources among local authorities can provide an effective means for employing technical experts, shared between municipalities.
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